This year, the French band Lo’Jo celebrates its 30-year anniversary with an exceptional album, Cinema El Mundo, or as the musicians define it, ‘Life projected on a big screen’. The thirteenth album is a cinematic voyage through a world of images and sensations, featuring talents like British rock maverick Robert Wyatt.

A creation of Denis Péan, the band was born in the Loire Valley. Today, they welcome musicians from all over the world to stay, contribute and record at the ‘Fontaine du Mont’ (‘The Fountain on the Mount’), a former farm house in the countryside near the town of Angers.

Six musicians make up the band: Denis Péan (vocals, keyboards); Richard Bourreau (violin/kora); Nicholas ‘Kham’ Meslien (bass, double bass); Nadia Nid El Mourid (vocals, percussions); Yamina Nid El Mourid (vocals, soprano saxophone, percussion); Baptiste Brondy (drums).

From a small and humble beginning, Lo’Jo has been working with acrobats, street theatre, mime, dancers, and a wide variety of musicians, including Tinariwen. They have performed across the world, from obscure venues to great festivals like WOMAD or the Desert Music Festival. It is from the many encounters along the road that the band harvests the material and magic to thread musical stories with exotic perfumes.

A French poet in the true sense of the word, head of the band Denis Péan manipulates the French language until the right balance is achieved. His affinity with créole language colors the music in a striking way: “Créole carries a lot of humor, synthesis, simplifications. In the end, a language is nothing more than that: the reflection of the world and humans.”